Amazon caused quite a commotion when it announced its $199 Kindle Fire last in September. The tablet is essentially a 7" BlackBerry PlayBook running an Amazon-customized version of Android.

Not to be left out of the tablet game, Barnes & Noble today unveiled its NOOK Tablet which will be going head-to-head with the Kindle Fire. The NOOK Tablet weighs 14.1 ounces and measures 8.1" x 5" x 0.48 inches. It features a 7" VividView color touchscreen with a 1024x600 display and comes with 16GB of storage space. Wireless connectivity is provided via 802.11n Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi access for the NOOK Tablet is free in Barnes & Noble stores).

In addition, your multimedia needs are met with Netflix, Hulu, and Pandora integration on the NOOK Tablet.

“In NOOK Tablet, we’ve created the best wireless media tablet in the portable 7-inch class," said William Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. "NOOK Tablet’s VividView display has been designed to be the world’s finest screen for readability and viewing content. We’ve utilized that breakthrough display technology to bring consumers the largest digital catalog of color and interactive books, magazines, children’s books and high-quality apps through our NOOK Store."

While the NOOK Tablet sounds like a great competitor to the Kindle Fire, it comes up short in one area: pricing. The NOOK Tablet is priced at $249, placing it $50 more expensive than the similarly spec'd Kindle Fire. On the other hand, Barnes & Noble's tablet has access to a much larger library of books, newspapers, and magazine so the added cost may be worth it to some buyers.

That would be awesome. I've gotten amazing mileage out of my Nook Cooler, rooting it with Cyanogenmod 7.1 (fast and snappy!). Makes me seriously wonder how impressive this Nook Tablet must be, and for the same price the color was a year ago.